Fields is back! Reportedly, anyway. This is huge for the Panthers, especially against a Marquette team that always seems to have our number. More importantly, they are one spot behind us in the Big East standings, and if we beat them it puts us in very good position to grab one of the coveted Big East tournament first-round byes. I mean, even with 4 conference losses we sit in 5th place, and the next three ahead of us have 3 losses.
Another thing about Friday's game is that it's the first half of a brutal road trip to Marquette and Notre Dame. As much as I want Pitt to be the team to break the Irish's home winning streak, if we win the front half of the trip there's not as much pressure to do so. In fact, it puts the pressure on ND because we'd have just beaten Marquette at home - a place where they were blown out. A win tomorrow night also gets us 20 again (well, if Houston Baptist counts). Even if the non-D I game doesn't count, with three home games left, 2 against Cincinnati and DePaul, something is wrong if we don't win another game.
Will Fields make the difference? I'm not sure, but he certainly will make everyone else better as they all get the chance to 1) return to their natural roles and 2) get a little bit of rest. I like seeing our young guys get minutes to help in the future, but Wanamaker and McGhee aren't really ready to contribute on a consistent basis.
Dating back to the start of last baseball season, my teams have taken some nasty injuries (I mean, seriously it's nuts, and I'm working on a complete list to throw up in another blog entry). Maybe now will begin some of the readjusting sports karma after such staggering losses.
Posted on: February 14, 2008 6:57 pm
Edited on: February 14, 2008 6:58 pm
Category: NCAAB
Posted on: February 13, 2008 10:21 pm
Who will be the Orioles fifth starter?
It seems like 4 slots in Baltimore's rotation are pretty much locked up with the signing of Steve Trachsel to a minor league deal. The question now has to become: who the heck will grab the last slot? The O's are deep on pitching in the minors, especially after the two big offseason trades. The thing is, none of those guys screams "I'm ready to start all season!" So, I compiled a list of all pitchers on the 40-man Roster and the non-roster invitees who have started at least one game in the majors. I looked at a few key stats to guage experience and readiness as well as performance in the majors. My guy is Troy Patton, and here's why:
In terms of experience, after Adam Loewen, Jeremy Guthrie, Daniel Cabrera, and Steve Trachsel (who are certainly the favorites for rotation spots 1-4) the guy with the next most (well, more than some of the above) is Esteban Yan. Yes, the long-time reliever has had more spot starts in his career than any of the O's young guns. OK, so scratch him from the list-he's definitely no one's full-season starting pitcher. Then there's Lance Cormier. With 23 starts and 244 IP, he's logged a 5.98 ERA, 1.73 WHIP, and K/BB ratio of only 1.22. More pitchers with control problems are NOT what the O's need. Another newcomer is Matt Albers, but his numbers don't look much better than Cormier's.
Then there are five guys who have been noteworthy from inside the Orioles organization over the last couple of years: Brian Burress, Garrett Olson, Hayden Penn, Jon Leicester, and Radhames Liz. Burress did some good things for the team last year, but I think that 1) he doesn't have the durability to start all year, 2) his numbers weren't good enough to throw him in ahead of one of our hot young prospects, and 3) he'd serve the team better as a likely oft-needed long man. Olson may or may not be ready, but he wasn't last year. He pitched to nearly an 8 ERA and over a 2.1 WHIP. Then there's Penn, who has been injury prone and largely ineffective when called up. I'm talking 9.31 ERA ineffective. Leicester is another guy who really is more suited to the bullpen. I don't think he's in the O's plans to be cultivated as a starting pitcher. Then there's Liz. He looks like he has amazing stuff, but what I see from him is Daniel Cabrera 2. He can zing it in there, at times he's untouchable, but he's wild and hasn't settled in. I hear he is a very good pupil, though, and so for the future he's the guy this team wants to work on. I think Patton could be ready NOW though, whereas Liz might benefit from half a season in the minors.
That leads me to Patton. He's the only person on this list with under a 5 ERA (it's 3.55). His SO/BB ratio is second to Yan at 2 even, and his WHIP is an impressive 1.11. Now, he is also the least experienced, and those numbers are not as meaningful as they look because they're only through 2 starts and 12 2/3 innings of work. That's a pretty solid 12 2/3 though.
I realize I have a somewhat weak case because first, prospects aren't all about their numbers in he bigs, second Patton has hardly any track record to go on. I like digging into the numbers, though, and they tell me this Patton kid has potential.
In terms of experience, after Adam Loewen, Jeremy Guthrie, Daniel Cabrera, and Steve Trachsel (who are certainly the favorites for rotation spots 1-4) the guy with the next most (well, more than some of the above) is Esteban Yan. Yes, the long-time reliever has had more spot starts in his career than any of the O's young guns. OK, so scratch him from the list-he's definitely no one's full-season starting pitcher. Then there's Lance Cormier. With 23 starts and 244 IP, he's logged a 5.98 ERA, 1.73 WHIP, and K/BB ratio of only 1.22. More pitchers with control problems are NOT what the O's need. Another newcomer is Matt Albers, but his numbers don't look much better than Cormier's.
Then there are five guys who have been noteworthy from inside the Orioles organization over the last couple of years: Brian Burress, Garrett Olson, Hayden Penn, Jon Leicester, and Radhames Liz. Burress did some good things for the team last year, but I think that 1) he doesn't have the durability to start all year, 2) his numbers weren't good enough to throw him in ahead of one of our hot young prospects, and 3) he'd serve the team better as a likely oft-needed long man. Olson may or may not be ready, but he wasn't last year. He pitched to nearly an 8 ERA and over a 2.1 WHIP. Then there's Penn, who has been injury prone and largely ineffective when called up. I'm talking 9.31 ERA ineffective. Leicester is another guy who really is more suited to the bullpen. I don't think he's in the O's plans to be cultivated as a starting pitcher. Then there's Liz. He looks like he has amazing stuff, but what I see from him is Daniel Cabrera 2. He can zing it in there, at times he's untouchable, but he's wild and hasn't settled in. I hear he is a very good pupil, though, and so for the future he's the guy this team wants to work on. I think Patton could be ready NOW though, whereas Liz might benefit from half a season in the minors.
That leads me to Patton. He's the only person on this list with under a 5 ERA (it's 3.55). His SO/BB ratio is second to Yan at 2 even, and his WHIP is an impressive 1.11. Now, he is also the least experienced, and those numbers are not as meaningful as they look because they're only through 2 starts and 12 2/3 innings of work. That's a pretty solid 12 2/3 though.
I realize I have a somewhat weak case because first, prospects aren't all about their numbers in he bigs, second Patton has hardly any track record to go on. I like digging into the numbers, though, and they tell me this Patton kid has potential.